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State Deficit Nearly Doubles to $16B

May 17, 2012

Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised budget plan this week showed that California’s deficit has grown to $16 billion, almost double what he projected in January.

The governor's proposed budget, in a best-case scenario, would provide local schools with flat funding. That means any increase would be minimal, perhaps as little as $10 per student, which barely begins to cover cost increases. That best-case scenario also assumes that the governor's proposed November tax initiative will pass. If it doesn't, schools will see much deeper cuts amounting to hundreds of dollars per student. That would translate into a much shorter school year and other painful reductions in service.

While the governor’s budget attempts to protect public education, he emphasized that the state’s ongoing fiscal crisis cannot be solved through cuts alone. Schools need the additional new revenues that the November initiative would provide.

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